ARMM leaders tag execution of ASG captives against Islamic norms

MARAWI CITY --- Elected officials in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on Thursday called un-Islamic the beheading of German nationalJuergen Gustav Kantnerby Abu Sayyaf terrorists. Nowhere in the Qur’an can one find a teaching espousing beheading of helpless captives regardless of races and religions, said ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, chairman of the region’s inter-agency regional peace and order council.The provincial governors in ARMM’s five provinces, Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi are members of the council.Hataman tagged as un-Islamic the decapitation early this week of the 70-year-old Kantner by a masked militant with a curved knife somewhere in Barangay Buansa in Indanan town in the hostile province of Sulu.Kantner was snatched while on board a small private boat at the ocean border of Malaysia and Southern Philippines in November last year.Local officials in Tawi-Tawi, among them Gov. Rashidin Matba, on Thursday branded despicable what was for them cold-blooded murder of Kantner.Lanao del Sur Gov. Bedjoria Soyara Alonto-Adiong said Islam has extensive teachings on respect for life and amity to strangers, particularly people with other religions. Islam do not encourage killing of innocent people. I cannot understand why there are fanatical groups that can kill people in the name of religion. Islam is not like that, Adiong said.Adiong said Islam even teaches respect for leaders of non-Islamic religions and their worship sites. Islam prohibits vandalism on non-Islamic worship sites, Adiong said.Maguindanao Gov. Esmael Mangudadatu said killing a captive while chanting Allahu akbar can never be interpreted as a spiritually meritorious act. That is un-Islamic. As Muslims we can’t even harm animals just for the heck of hurting them and for fun, Mangudadatu said.He said he is convinced there is a deeper reason, not just misguided fanaticism, behind the brutal acts of Abu Sayyaf terrorists. No Muslim in proper frame of mind can do beheadings like that to simply destroy Islam, Mangudadatu said.He said religious fanatics are thriving only in areas where there is high level of illiteracy among locales. Our educated Muslim constituents in far-flung areas cannot be swayed easily to support or directly participate in this kind of misguided militancy, Mangudadatu said.He said in his province, which has 36 towns, the provincial government is helping produce professionals through the Maguindanao Program for Education and Community Empowerment, which now has more than 7,000 college scholars. Education is a very good way to fight misguided religious extremism now plaguing some areas in Mindanao, Mangudadatu said.Basilan Gov. Jim Hataman said he could not understand until now why the Abu Sayyaf is trying to connect Islam to its diabolic activities. It is un-Islamic to harm innocent people even just in thoughts. The mere thought of harming someone is already a spiritual offense in our religion, he said.Hataman, now in his second term as ARMM’s chief executive, and his constituent-governors in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan and Tawi-Tawi vowed support to efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte to address the Abu Sayyaf group head-on.The Abu Sayyaf has been using the island province of Sulu as springboard for its activities and as harboring site for Filipinos and foreigners kidnapped abroad and in nearby Mindanao provinces.The Abu Sayyaf, which boasts of loyalty to the Independent State of Iraq and Syria, is feared for its practice of beheading captives if ransom demands are not met.